I chose the pumpkin face as a symbol of Halloween. We know masks are used for religious rituals and traditions. According to history, Halloween, construction of All Hallows’ Eve, is a celebration on the 31st of October. All Hallows or All Saints’ Day is a festival celebrated on the 1stof November by Roman Catholic Church in honor of all the saints. The masks were supposed to be scary, frightening, evil. Men would paint a mask on their face with blackened ashes from sacred bonfire. This is where I got my second idea of the skull, with black ash eyes and a large black mouth. People wanted to honor the dead, wearing masks to scare away all the evil spirits. It is believed that wearing masks protects those wearing them from ghosts. Halloween has originated from the old Celtic festival. The Halloween mask has been a tradition ever since. My last choice, with the X eyes, seemed bold, and vibrant. A mask that scares in its own unique way.
Pumpkin Face: Immediately I see a pumpkin face. It looks angry, evil. It is all one shade of orange, with its eyes nose and mouth blacked out. The texture looks plastic almost from the shadows and lighting. The lighting in the creases of its eyes and nose and lines show that it is a pumpkin and we can see the texture of it. The meaning is to display Halloween. An evil pumpkin. It is pretty basic, cheap looking, but I love it. Simple, cheap, but brilliant. 
· Skull: The skull is eye catching. We can see that this mask was painted on by the texture of it and shadows. I can see the three dimensions of the lips, eyelids and eyelashes. This tells us the person behind it is real, and this was done with paint. I see a frightening skull, with a large mouth and sharp teeth. It symbolizes fear, and death. The shading and color choice show the texture of the skull. We see darkened eyelids, as we learned before this was a tradition in Halloween history to darken the eyes with burnt ash. The symmetry and balance are beautiful. Awesome piece. 
· X neon: This last mask is about boldness and vibrancy. The X on the eyes is a cover up of identity. And the zig zagged lines over the mouth show silence. You can’t see the person, nor hear them. This is something a murderer would wear. Its creepy, and mysterious. The lines show us the crisscrossed eye and mouth. We can tell by its color that it is neon. Its texture tells me it is a light of some sort. This mask is bold and sticks out. It is also creepy. The creator made it to hide the identity. I think it’s simple, but scary. I would be terrified if I saw someone wearing it, and that definitely is its purpose.
In my finished mask, I used quite a bit of elements and principles. To start off, color. The colors I chose were simple. Orange, black, white and brown. I used oil pastels, sharpie and pencil to create my mask. I created it over a base cardboard blank mask. Secondly, texture. I shaded the black lines to show a rough texture. Makes it look more realistic, half pumpkin, half demon. The texture of the teeth is shown through the shapes I chose. Lines come next. The vertical lines coming from the skull to the bottom of the jaw are for the pumpkin lines. We all know pumpkins have vertical lines just like in my mask. Brightness was also used. The neon orange is to exaggerate the pumpkin part, as the black mouth and dark eyes are used for a creepy vibe. Most importantly is symmetry. My mask is very symmetric. I believe beauty is symmetry, which is why I created a vibrant, symmetrical, creepy mask to show my love for Halloween and its history of masks.
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| SKETCHES |
I think my mask turned out really good and was exactly what I wanted it to be. I wanted to take a different approach than what we learned and do Halloween. Halloween is my favorite holiday and for years I have always created my own “masks”. This year I was an evil pumpkin myself and took part in a tradition of hiding our identity, dressing as something scary, and keeping the spirits away. I had a lot of fun creating my mask, especially because I love this scary, Halloween stuff. I had old oil pastels I took out and really enjoyed using them on my mask. It is very scary and detailed and I couldn’t be happier with how it turned out. I think people forget that Halloween is religious, and a tradition, and mask wearing is part of that history. Like the other masks, Halloween masks are also used for a ritual (all hollows eve), and it is in fact religious. We can tie it into the use for horror films, pretending to be someone else, and also theatre/entertainment. That is why I think Halloween masks are so awesome because they can be used for many different things. I loved this project!
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| FINAL MASK |
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| FINAL MASK |
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